Roller derby hoodie

This hoodie is designed for warming up at roller derby training. It can get quite cold sometimes skating around in a sports hall at night in winter. But it is hard to wear a jacket because the sleeves won’t go over your elbow pads and the hood won’t fit over your helmet. Well this hoodie has no sleeves and has a massive hood that can cover your helmet. There is also an option to personalise it by crocheting your name and/or number on the back.

This pattern requires 8 ply wool and 4mm hook and is written in American crochet notation. Use whatever colours you like, maybe team colours? I chose black because I had a lot of black wool lying around and I couldn’t be bothered to go to the shops. Also black makes me look cool 🙂

To make a me-sized version (kinda skinny)

Bottom

Row 1: Chain 141 (140 stitches plus a turning chain)

Rows 2 – 85: sc in each stitch (140 stitches)

First front panel

Row 86: sc 30 (30 stitches)

Rows 87 – 116: sc in each stitch (30 stitches)

Row 117: sc 29 (29 stitches) (so you should have ignored the stitch on the very outermost edge of the piece of fabric. If instead of this you have left out a stitch on the edge facing the bulk of the fabric then just add another row so that you are decreasing on the correct side. We need to decrease on the outside edge side in order to form a gap for the neck.)

Row 118: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 27 stitches (28 stitches)

Row 119: sc 27 stitches (27 stitches)

Row 120: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 25 stitches (26 stitches)

Row 121: sc 25 stitches (25 stitches)

Row 122: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 23 stitches (24 stitches)

Row 123: sc 23 stitches (23 stitches)

Row 124: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 21 stitches (22 stitches)

Rows 125 – 135: sc in each stitch (22 stitches)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Second front panel

Join the wool to the outside edge on the other side and repeat the instructions for the first front panel (you will make a mirror image of the first front panel).

Back

Join the wool 10 stitches away from the edge of a front panel.

Row 1: sc 60 (60 stitches)

Rows 2 – 50: sc in each stitch (60 stitches)

Fasten off, weave in end.

As the back is 60 stitches wide and 50 stitches tall you can design a tapestry crochet that fits in that space.

Assembly

Fold the hoodie so the front panels are lying against the back and sew up the shoulders. You should now basically have a vest.

Hood

The hood is made in two pieces. They are basically just rectangles with a curve instead of one of the corners.

Row 1: Fold the hoodie in half down the middle of the back so that one side is facing you. Join the wool to the neck and work two sc in each stitch from the edge of the collar to the middle of the back. In my case this was 64 stitches.

Rows 2 – 61: sc in each stitch (64 stitches)

Row 62: we now start to decrease on the side of the middle of the back. This way we will form a nice curve. Make sure that you are decreasing on the side of the middle of the back, not on the outside edge. Decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 62 stitches (63 stitches)

Row 63: sc in the first 61 stitches, decrease the last two stitches together (62 stitches)

Row 64: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 60 stitches (61 stitches)

Row 65: sc in the first 59 stitches, decrease the last two stitches together (60 stitches)

Row 66: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 58 stitches (59 stitches)

Row 67: sc in the first 57 stitches, decrease the last two stitches together (58 stitches)

Row 68: decrease the first two stitches together, sc in the next 56 stitches (57 stitches)

Row 69: sc in the first 53 stitches, (decrease the next two stitches together) x 2 (55 stitches)

Attach the wool in a corner of the bottom panel and sc all around the hoodie including the hood. This neatens everything up and can add visual interest if you use a contrasting colour (such as pink).

Zip

Buy a zip (I needed a 50 cm one). Make sure it is an open-ended, not a close-ended zip (I made that mistake). Sew it on.

Yay, you’ve finished your hoodie. You can now train and be warm and fashionable all at the same time 🙂

How to adapt the hoodie for your size

Bottom

Chain stitch until you have a chain long enough to form a loose ring around your hips. Sc rows until the fabric reaches from your hip to a bit below your armpit.

Side panels

Wrap the bottom around your body so that it joins at the front. Put a marker near the front of your armpit. The area between the outside edge and this marker will be a front panel. Sc rows between the marker and the outside edge until you reach your collarbone. Then decrease on the very outside edge to form the shape you want for your neck. Be careful to decrease enough so that there is actually space for your neck. Then just keep making sc rows until you reach the top of your shoulder. Repeat the mirror image on the other side.

Back

Leave two gaps for armholes. Ten stitches seems about right but you can experiment. The width of the back is the width of the bottom section minus the width of the panels and armholes. So in my case this was 140 – ((2 x 30) + (2 x 10)) = 60. The height of the back is the same as the height of the side panels. Once you’ve figured out the dimensions you know how many stitches you have to play with when designing your tapestry crochet. You can design it using a piece of graph paper. It is basically just pixel art 🙂

Hood

I think this should be about the same for everyone but play around with the height so that it is not too massive or too small for your helmet.